I had hoped to finish the last two segments of figure 3 by today but this whole week has been hectic and tiring so ...another day or so won't matter. Vicki Clarke asked in a comment if I would show the back side of the inserts so I thought I would show that today.

This is the inside of both bags. The black one won't show you much about the process since I added a white background. I didn't take a photo or scan before I stitched it on. I just used a sort of hemming blind stitch to attach it to the top and bottom fabrics which were folded over like a hem. I was more concerned about how I was going to hide the ends that looked so unfinished.

Then next two segments will be stitched on top of fabric instead of taking the place of fabric so maybe I should do a tutorial later on about insertions. I'd like to get a little better at it though.

For this one, on the wrong side of the fabric, I drew around the insertion rectangle to get the size and shape. I then drew another line slightly inside of that one, more at the sides, for a little wiggle room. I didn't want to have to stretch out the lace. I drew a line from corner to corner and cut along the lines of the resulting X. That gave me 4 flaps to fold back. I think I pressed them but it might have been finger pressing held down with straight pins afterwards. Then I stitched a running stitch close to the fold all around with some white perle cotton thread. I was hoping for a more decorative effect but in the end, you barely see it. I also added French Knots in the tatting thread around the edges but it looked not-so-good so I took them out. I trimmed the four folded back pieces that were stitched down now fairly close but not too close. I trimmed them again once I was done with the insertion.

Then I took sewing thread and took the needle through a crochet stitch and then caught a few threads of the fabric in the fold. I went all the way around like that. you can see at the ends that I whipped the long bare threads to the fabric too. Those were actually the tails that I attached to the opposite side to give it stability at the end. I knew I would be hiding it with fabric. I debated about putting a backing on this too since it is a bag and anything put in it could theoretically catch on the lace. Since this is a sample, it's unlikely it will be used that way so I didn't.

I have a publication I bought from Gillian who used to host the Bellaonline Tatting site which is about insertions and mounting tatting. I'll go over it and see if there is a "cleaner" way to do this and then post a tutorial. If you've ever seen the tatted insertions used in the old Anna magazines, you probably fell in love with them. It's still something I want to do with kitchen curtains.

I also wanted to mention that I'm planning on displaying what I've done so far with the vintage tatting at our Indiana Lace Day on April 9th, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It will be held at:

Christ United Methodist Church
3610 S 18th Street
Lafayette IN 47909
NW corner of Veteran’s Memorial Pkwy [formerly 350 S and S 18th)

Looks like we'll have five vendors (John Aebi, Fredworks, Kathy Kirchner, Debbie Beever, Jennifer from Tatting Corner) so this is a great opportunity to buy lace supplies without paying shipping! No charge to get in. There are some mini-classes that cost $10 for supplies and those are limited in number. For more information, email Carolyn Regnier.


I did get the last OWOH win today. It came from Kelly, a mixed media artist from Tennessee. It's a magnet which is now on my fridge. I don't have very many metal surfaces since there are so many electronics around these days but my refrigerator can always use refreshing!